Engineers at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) have helped to develop a novel laser tracking measurement device that they say has “the potential to be a disruptive technology in high-value manufacturing and a key capability in factories of the future”.
The AMRC team believe that Reflex Imaging’s Laser Metrology Module — referred to as LAMM for short — is capable of ‘shaking up’ the metrology market due to the low cost of the sensor it uses compared with more-conventional metrology systems.
The sensor uses a laser to track a target and generate co-ordinates for that target; it was originally developed for use in medical equipment, but the AMRC saw that it could have multiple uses in high-value manufacturing.
The LAMM is still in development, but the AMRC has helped Reflex Imaging develop the technology so that its capabilities are suited to manufacturing applications.
The Catapult-funded collaborative project undertaken by Reflex Imaging and the AMRC’s Integrated Manufacturing Group (IMG) involved two projects at the AMRC’s Factory 2050 and focused on developing ‘use cases’ and demonstrators for the LAMM, with the aim of finding applications within the high-value manufacturing industry and help Reflex Imaging develop the sensor to suit them.
The initial project was to better understand LAMM and investigate potential ‘use cases’, as well as undertake basic demonstrator testing. A follow-up project then focused on specific manufacturing tasks identified during the first one.
Thomas Hodgson, the Large Volume Metrology technical leader for IMG, said the team identified a number of possible application areas for the technology, including robotic tracking, fixture validation and robotic machining.
“One of the uses of the trackers is ensuring that robotic drills are in the right place before drilling a hole — a task that is often done using costly equipment.
“We have shown that LAMM can make the necessary measurements more cost-effectively than the normally used laser tracking devices.
“For example, those used for certifying large jigs used in aerospace manufacture for operations such as drilling and assembly can cost anything from £80,000 to £250,000; and jigs have to be certified, because they are the means of controlling quality.”
Reflex background
Reflex Imaging was set up in 2013 and is jointly owned by Peter Hart (CEO) and Malcolm Humphrey (chief technical officer).
Armed with their ideas and an early prototype of the LAMM, they visited the European Portable Metrology Conference (EPMC) in Coventry last year to assess the market, and it was there that they met representatives from the AMRC.
Mr Hart said: “As a start-up, we must use our resources very efficiently. Having access to the experience, facilities and personnel of AMRC was to prove extremely valuable, as they helped us to identify the strongest potential areas of application and confidently set the focus for the final hardware and software development.
“The ability to subsequently access working manufacturing cells at the AMRC and install our equipment to prove out the ideas was immensely valuable.
“The conventional method of working with potential customers with their commercial pressures would not have been as easy, nor could we have done the necessary development in such a short time-frame.
“Furthermore, working with the AMRC means we are not only addressing today’s manufacturing challenges but also seeing future manufacturing concepts.
“LAMM technology lets users achieve an ‘order of magnitude’ improvement in precision over conventional systems for a given cost, as LAMMs are designed to be simply connected together to achieve higher target coverage and higher sampling rates, as well as higher levels of averaging and system redundancy.
“The ability to use multiple lower-cost units opens up the potential of using laser-based metrology in applications that would not have been feasible on cost grounds — such as the automatic calibration of robotic machining systems as standard.
“We believe that the factory of the future will use a scalable network of integrated and precise measuring devices.”
Mr Hart added: “Above all the experience, information and facilities of the AMRC, one of the most valuable things coming from the project has been the strong personal confidence that the individuals in AMRC had in us throughout the project.
“One year on, at this year’s EPMC conference — being held at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena on 20 and 21 November — our ideas have resulted in a booth, products and applications.
“In addition, we have the huge credibility that comes from having the support of the people at the AMRC.”